Individual investors still own more individual rental properties, as they did in 2001. But as of 2015, institutional investors — all other landlords, including partnerships, companies, trustees for estates and nonprofit organizations — made gains across rental properties of all sizes. Their majority share of rental units (52.2 percent) is the result of increased ownership of multi-unit properties, as shown in the chart.

But while the Harvard group cited evidence that institutional landlords may be more likely to initiate evictions, it conceded that the jury is still out on what kind of landlords institutional investors make.

Correction:

A chart last Sunday with the Calculator column, about increased ownership of rental units by institutional investors, mislabeled the percentages shown with vertical bars. The percentages were for the “Share of Rental Properties,” not the “Share of Rental Units.”